"System, you really went up on the magical gimmick of yours. You even went and showcased the dark halo for my breakthrough in a major realm." Aster praised while sensing the great mana that course through his meridian.To any other mana cultivator, they could sense a coating of condensed mana that is covering him. This signifies the overflow of mana when one reaches the Initiate realm.
For walking time bombs like the Weakest Saint, they would disregard this overflow and let it cover them or they could condense it inside their bodies. True cultivators would however utilize this to perform any technique they want.
Mages would control it and perform their spells through a medium like wands and staff if they want. There are also other options such as reciting verses that help them visualize and will the magic they want to perform. The mentioned methods however are only for those who have not mastered their technique.
They are easily incapacitated by disrupting their focus. Such as breaking their chants and verses while they are performing a spell. There is a considerable chance that they would suffer backlashes.
The same could be said for grimoire, wand, rings, and staff reliant mages. For sure these objects help facilitate or even strengthen their spell display but it would still somewhat fall short on what Aster believes as the true terror of being a magician. That is when they could instant cast without any of the useless gibberish.
Instant casters are pretty rare in their specialization though because they need a lot of effort in doing visualizations and experimental displays.
It would also be the same for warrior types and martial artist. Their skills are easier to master because it is based on muscle memory and instinctive movements.
A swordmaster could unleash killer moves just through lacing their sword with their sharpened mana. Martial artists such as Tai Chi masters and Taekwondo artists also follow the same principle but in the form of their punches and whatnot.
Each of the cla.s.ses has its own pros and cons but it would pretty much depend on who wins. To survive and stand out by beating one"s opposition is an unwritten but true rule in the world of Tellus. It is even applicable in higher heavens or something if they ever did exist.
"There is not much point in debating which method of cultivation is better because all known specialization would always follow a fundamental principle. Acc.u.mulating mana and masterfully control them." Aster decided to put all those advantages and disadvantages nonsense in the back of his head and focus on completing another set of body cultivation catered for Initiate 1.
Novice 10 in body cultivation is practically the bordering in the culpable limits of a mortal man or even higher than that. With Aster being an Initiate body cultivator, he could crush tons of them if he wanted and that is if they were to only stand in place.
This was a world of infinite possibilities brought about by mana. This meant that there are infinite numbers of absurd and unreasonable reasons for one to be killed. Even the comedic Weakest Saint is easily killable by a stagnant rock if he is not careful, much less Aster who had only stepped in the second known rank of cultivation.
Aster acted out an impressive performance that awed his spectators. His flick and slaps could literally kill weak-bodied people if he made contact. Theoretically, the only people that could survive his attack would be the natural-born body cultivators who are most of the beasts, demons, and devils. As mentioned, there is also a myriad of skills and possibilities that could counter him.
It took a while until the system posted a screen in his view and found out that it was regarding his rewards for advancing to Initiate.
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Mission 2: Reach the Initiate realm. Reward: Being able to purchase pa.s.sive growth coupons. Cleared.
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"This would mean that these coupons are now available to be bought in my Shops section." He tried commenting for a clarification from the system and found no reply, so he decided to check his a.s.sumptions and found out that he was correct. "I haven"t checked much of the items here but this is probably one of the items that are not related to s.e.xual stuff."
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SHOP:
...
Pa.s.sive Growth Coupons [10,000]. A coupon that is partnered with any skill and lets it grow together with the cultivation level of a pract.i.tioner.
...
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"It is a bit pricey for me but a good bargain, given that I do not need to exchange for upgrading it to higher grades." He smiled and thought about the skills that he should go for at the moment. He scrolled through the plethora of skills in his status and wanted to exchange for near-instant mastery of it. In this way, he could be ready for completing his timed mission.
He has 78,019 l.u.s.t points in his reserves and given that he wanted to splurge, he splurged.
The one skill that intrigued him the most is the s.p.a.ce Skip. It is only a single movement art meant for Initiate realm cultivators. It is pretty weak but it is considered priceless by a lot of people. The Suns family practically threw it in a mix of low level and less practical techniques because it was unsuitable for them. s.p.a.ce attribute is also a rare attribute that a lot would go crazy for but it was trashed by them because of their inclination towards sun flames and flares. Their belief was frankly scary that they had to awkwardly give themselves a surname such as Suns.
s.p.a.ce was a concept known to everyone yet mana that is attributed to such an element is hard to be detected. This is why unorthodox cultivators whose goals are to collect tons of elements would label it as an elusive treasure element. There are also other elusive elements that he could go for but decided for one that is best suited for chasing and escaping.
s.p.a.ce Skip. Enables s.p.a.ce cultivators to skip at a certain distance using the mysteries of s.p.a.ce. Distance travel is dependent on s.p.a.ce mana being used. 5,000 l.u.s.t points needed for mastery insights.
"It is quite cheap as well. Buy this for me, system." The system did just that and insights and comprehension gushed forwards him. His attributeless mana played another pivotal role.
It is the most suited for the unorthodox ways for a reason. Attributed mana is given certain colors such as blue, red, and green while attributeless is practically the color changer that is likened to the chromatoph.o.r.es of chameleons and octopi. It is able to change attributes with insane levels of practice and a great advantage compared to those with certain attributes given to them. For them, they have to smartly part.i.tion their elemental mana.
To put in simpler exemplification, attributed unorthodoxers have their mana reserves part.i.tioned as a multiple colored and flavored cake. The attribute that they are more inclined to would tend to take a bigger piece of the cake.
Attributeless unorthodoxers, on the other hand, could change the colors and flavors of their cake as much as they want. This also means that they could take in any sort of mana in their body and be able to use it. This absorption process would however take longer and they need to be able to master it to change as they want.
This would be another pro and con situation that would need to partake in great debates to know and settle who is truly better and worst.
His familiarity with s.p.a.ce was now at the peak of the Initiate realm. With mastery, he could already understand all the mysteries of the Initiate Grade technique. The only thing that is holding him back is his cultivation level and mana output. If this was partnered with pa.s.sive growth, the effect would not be apparent except for when he reaches the expert rank which directly enhances it to Expert Grade. If he were to use an evolve option, the skill would then become s.p.a.ce Walk or some other tacky name related to moving in s.p.a.ce.
"System, buy a Pa.s.sive Growth Coupon and use it on s.p.a.ce Skip." Aster did just that and the pa.s.sive growth option was locked on to his movement skill. The effective growth is not as apparent as the Origin Body Art but it would still be useful in future developments.
Keep in mind that the Origin Body Art is not graded and incomplete when Aster made it and would grow along with his cultivation levels. s.p.a.ce Skip which is catered for the entire Initiate realm would also pa.s.sively grow in every raise of his cultivation ranks.
He then turned to focus his attention on the Status section to check on his progress.
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STATUS:
Name: Aster
Age: 16
Cultivation: Initiate 1 (0/10,000)
l.u.s.t Points: 63,019
Special Abilities:
•Woman Conquer Ability
l.u.s.t Skills:
•Mighty Missionary Skill I (80% s.e.xp)
•Oral Delighter I (23% s.e.xp)
•Nectar Gatherer I (34% s.e.xp)
•b.i.t.c.h Pounder I (49% s.e.xp)
•Libido Art I (73% s.e.xp)
Cultivation Skills: [...]
•Origin Body Art (pa.s.sive growth)
•s.p.a.ce Skip (pa.s.sive growth)
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"Unrivaled p.e.n.i.s is not under l.u.s.t Skills because it is not a true l.u.s.t skill after all." Aster had asked for the system to toggle the s.e.xperience option to percentage because it would not matter much how he saw the numbers. The direct criteria were not given anyway, so he decided to wing it and improve it to full percentage when he would reach it. "It will reach what it will eventually reach."
He was about to pick another set of skills to add to his a.r.s.enal but an unexpected ringing of the once quiet doorbell disturbed him. Even when he is by the backyard, his optimized senses enabled him to pick up on the sound that was being produced.